Media ‘banned’ from counting centre in #Gorakhpur

In Uttar Pradesh the by-election results for two Lok Sabha constituencies – Gorakhpur and Phulpur – will be declared today. Counting of votes for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by-elections began at 8 am today.

At around 12:10 pm, the UP Assembly was adjourned for 10 minutes till 12:20 pm following ruckus over the issue of the media being kept out of the counting centre in Gorakhpur. The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party’s Ram Govind Chaudhary, reported NDTV.

According to reports, journalists were banned from reporting trends for the Gorakhpur constituency. As the gap between the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and the Samajwadi Party candidate narrowed, District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela is said to have denied entry to the media in the counting centre. Latest figures from news agency ANI suggest that the SP has taken lead over the BJP is Yogi Adityanath’s stronghold Gorakhpur.

The results of these elections are being closely watched as they could indicate potential for a bigger opposition alliance before the next Lok Sabha polls, reported Hindustan Times.

The results are expected to be declared by afternoon, an EC official said. For now, the reported media ban has raised eyebrows.